Our primary care psychological health team provides brief cognitive behavioral therapy and counselling to adults in Kensington and Chelsea who have common mental health problems.
These can include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bereavement
- Relationship/family difficulties
- Financial/employment problems
Our primary care psychological health team provides brief cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling to adults. We are part of the National Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme which aims to increase access to NICE recommended interventions for common mental health problems.
The team works as part of an integrated primary care mental health service working in partnership with Central and North West London Foundation NHS Trust, Depression Alliance and The Reader Organisation.
Using a stepped approach to care, the integrated service provides patients with the least intensive intervention at the right time for their needs. In addition to our NHS service, we also provide two Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea funded services - a Carers Counselling Service as part of the local carers’ strategy and from April 2012 a Stroke Counselling Service for people with stroke.
We offer a number of approaches based around National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance and national policy including:
Step 1
- Depression Alliance provides facilitated member-led support and activity groups, including time banking
- The Reader Organisation provides a number of Book Break reading groups around the borough and supports the provision of a range of self-help books in the libraries
Step 2
CLCH provides a range of guided self-help interventions including:
- guided self help
- supported signposting such as helping people access other services
Step 3a
- CLCH provides brief counselling (6-8 sessions) including with an Arabic and Somali speaking counsellor
Step 3b
- CLCH provides Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (6-12 sessions)
Step 3c
- CNWL provides a team of Primary Care Liaison Nurses offering intermediate care
Step 4
- CNWL provides a Psychology Team offering specialist psychology assessment and treatment
In addition to our NHS service, we also provide two Kensington and Chelsea funded services - a Carers Counselling Service as part of the local carers’ strategy and a Brief Therapy service for people with stroke.